Erpenbach Testifies Before Senate Committee on Do Not Call Expansion Bill
Cell Phones, Small Businesses Would Be Eligible under Consumer Protection Plan
Madison – State Senator Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) testified today before a Senate committee on behalf of his bill to relieve cell phone customers and small business owners of unwanted telemarketing calls and add additional consumer protections to state law.
“We need to disconnect unwanted telemarketing calls once and for all,” said Erpenbach, author of the original legislation creating Wisconsin first “Do Not Call” list. “They are intrusive and irritating whether they come to your home, your cell phone or your small business.”
Under Erpenbach’s bill (Senate Bill 99) consumers would enjoy increased protections, including:
• Allowing consumers to add their cellular telephones to the state’s Do Not Call list;
• Allowing a small business to add a landline or a cell phone to the state’s Do Not Call list;
• Creating a full-time prohibition for unsolicited fax machine communications (current law permits unsolicited faxes from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m.);
• Placing enforcement authority for unsolicited fax machine communications under the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (current law gives District Attorneys enforcement responsibility); and
• Increasing the penalties for violations from the current maximum of $100 to amounts between $1,000 and $10,000 -- this would put the penalties in line with other consumer law.
According to testimony at the hearing from Jim Rabbitt, Director of Consumer Protection at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, complaints about violations of the “Do Not Call” list are the number one consumer complaint. In 2006 the state received 2,700 written complaints – nearly double the next highest category. Over 1 million Wisconsin households have requested to be put on the “Do Not Call” list since Erpenbach’s original legislation went into place.
“Many people are choosing to abandon their land lines in favor of cell phones and my bill is a reflection of those changing consumer demands,” said Erpenbach, one of the state legislature’s leading privacy advocates. “These are protections everyone supports – small business owners, cell phone customers and anyone who’s sick of getting spam faxes about vacation deals that are too good to be true.”
The bill, which was coauthored with Senator Pat Kreitlow and Representatives Jennifer Shilling and Jeff Smith, enjoys the support of a majority of the members in both houses of the legislature including, 19 Senators and 54 Representatives from both parties. Erpenbach said he is hopeful the bill will be voted on by the Senate Small Business Committee in the coming weeks.
